Our Friends of Te Papa Tour to Canterbury in November is fully booked with a waiting list, however we are extending an invitation to all our Christchurch members, or any member who is in Christchurch on the day, to join us for dinner at College House in Ilam on the evening 22 November 2018.
College House is our special destination for the evening. Designed by Warren and Mahoney, it was built between 1965 and 1970 and forms a complex that is recognised nationally as a significant example of modern movement architecture.
Warren and Mahoney were awarded the New Zealand Institute of Architects’ (NZIA) Gold Medal for College House in 1969, the highest individual honour an architect can achieve in New Zealand. College House is included in all published surveys of modernist architecture in New Zealand and most histories of New Zealand’s architectural history. Subsequent modifications, upgrades and additions to the College House complex have generally been undertaken in deference to the characteristics and materials of Warren and Mahoney’s original design, for instance, the dining room and kitchen building which was demolished and rebuilt by following the Canterbury earthquakes of 2010 and 2011.
The evening will include a glass of bubbly on arrival, and a self-guided tour of the Alex Baird Collection of Contemporary Art – a collection of more than 100 works from New Zealand artists.
After a 2-course buffet dinner, architect Alec Bruce will talk on the significance of Warren and Mahoney’s ‘well-mannered modernism’ design for the College.